1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-cooled general-purpose engine comprising: a cooling fan fixed to one end portion of a crankshaft supported by an engine main body, the one end portion protruding outward from one end wall of the engine main body; and a shroud which is mounted to the engine main body, and which defines a cooling-air path between the shroud and the one end wall, the cooling-air path guiding a cooling air blown under pressure from the cooling fan, and especially relates to an improvement of a lubricating system for said engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a lubricating system for a general-purpose engine, a force-feed lubricating system has been known, such as one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-54819, which includes an oil pump for pumping up an oil from an oil reservoir at a bottom portion of an engine main body, and in which the oil discharged by the oil pump is supplied to the surrounding of a crankshaft and also supplied to a valve operating chamber in a head portion of the engine main body.
Meanwhile, an air-cooled general-purpose engine is often operated in a stationary state as in, for example, a power source of an electric generator or the like, and the operation environment is harsh. This makes it difficult to cool an oil for lubricating components of the general-purpose engine, particularly to cool an oil for lubricating a valve operating system that is far away from an oil reservoir in a bottom portion of a crankcase.